Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson resigned his role on the Myanmar advisory board on the Rohingya crisis Wednesday calling the group a “whitewash and a cheerleading operation” for Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s civilian leader.
The New York Times reported Richardson, a former U.N. ambassador in the Clinton administration, wrote in a scathing resignation letter that the board “is likely to become a cheerleading squad for government policy as opposed to proposing genuine policy changes.”
Richardson criticized Suu Kyi in his letter for her “lack of sincerity” in the Rohingya crisis, specifically for failing to address the situation regarding two Reuters journalists imprisoned in Myanmar earlier this month, who were charged with offenses under the Official Secrets Act in Myanmar.
“I was extremely upset at the State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s reaction to my request that she address the situation of the two Reuters journalists both swiftly and fairly,” Richardson wrote. Richardson said Suu Kyi was “furious” at his suggestion to address the issue.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate has received worldwide criticism for not speaking out forcefully against the Rohingya crisis, where almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh from the Rakhine State in western Myanmar to escape military brutality. The crisis has been labeled as an “ethnic cleansing” by U.S. and U.N. officials.
“She has developed an arrogance of power,” Richardson told the New York Times in a phone interview. “I’ve known her for a long time and am fond of her, but she basically is unwilling to listen to bad news, and I don’t want to be a part of a whitewash.”
